Saturday March 12, 2005

Mt Carrigan

Today we headed to the summit of Mt Carrigan with several other members of VFTT to join Skimom on her 48th of the NH48 all season list and Arm for his 48th of the Winter NH48 list.

This is the route we took today.

Directions to the trailhead: From Glen NH at the intersection of Route 16 and 302, head north on Route 302 for @ 10 miles - there is a large parking lot on the left with signage for Sawyer River Road. The parking lot is plowed during the Winter.

Time to summit: Mt Carrigan 7 hours
Round trip 10 1/2 hours

This shows a wrong turn we made :> (lower right)

This is the profile of the hike.

A 3-D view of our hike.

We met at the parking lot at 8:00 AM. It had been snowing since Friday afternoon, with 6 inches already on the ground in the parking lot. Marshall and Donna are shown here starting to gear up while waiting for the woman of the hour to show up.

All smiles in the warm car, Geri starts to get ready. Thre is a steady snow coming down at this point with a forecast for another 12 inches by days end.

Skimom decided to make a grand entrance, but most had started out for the hike at 8:30 and missed it. (i.e. She was late!) First we had to cover 2 miles on the unplowed Sawyer River Road. Here is some of the group at the 1 mile mark. Some of the group opted for XC skis for the first 3 miles of the trip - they were the smart ones as they covered the last 2 miles quickly at the end of the long day.

Charlie and Sherpa John had planned a traverse of the Presidentials today, but changed their plans due to the forecast for upwards of 24 inches of snow.

Brian taking a water break. Although it was snowing, the temp was fairly warm with several not needing gloves or hats.

Sherpa John at the official trail head 2 miles from Route 302.

MEB must be wondering what the day would bring. We found out later that she has a very nice singing voice.

Some opted to use goggles to help with visabilty.

Bob K about to start up the official trail which had not had people on it for over a week so it was now covered with 2+ feet of snow.

The trail is next to a stream for the first mile or so offering some beuatiful views.

Brian out in front breaking trail, followed by Charlie trying to get his skis over a blowdown with Donna right behind.

Sherpa John at the trail junction @ 4 miles from the start. Everyone would be covered in snow all day long.

The next 3.3 miles would end up taking us 5 hours!!!! A total of 16 people started on this hike - 13 would finish. Even being at the end of the line, it was not easy going as you still sunk in to the snow. Snowshoes were used by all.

A quick snack before we start out for the summit. Some of us would miss a turn and bushwack along what we thought was an overgrown trail before turning back and finding the real trail. 2 of the group continued on an re-joined the trail a little higher.

Finally - 7 hours after starting out, Skimom steps onto her last of the NH48 peaks!!!

The smile would stay for the rest of the day.

Is she trying to tell us her age or did she run out of fingers to spell #48?
Photo from Arm's collection

And here is the "man" of the day! Arm completed his Winter 48 today.
Photo from Arm's collection

We took shelter under the tower to celebrate Skimom accomplishment as well as Arm's who completed his Winter NH48 list.

We did it! We are all cold, tired, and hungry, but all have a sense of great accomplishment.

Their smiles say it all. This was the hardest hike we have ever done - it was a test of endurance and will. We ran into MEB and her husband the next morning at EMS. Like us she decided shopping for hiking gear was a good idea for the day after.

Arm is presenting Skimom with an award for completing the NH48.

Here she is with her scroll and patch.

Sherpa John gave her a copy of his movie '48'. And another hiker who couldn't be here today, left a package of chocolates with a note on the summit for her.

Doug, who did a lot of trail breaking in the final stretch, gives Denali a well earned treat. This was Denali's 26th Winter peak. We ran into Doug and his wife Jen the next morning at breakfast. Like most of us, they were pretty beat after the long day. Denali was a pleasure to have along and never seemed to run out of energy.

Everyone wanted to pose with Skimom for a pic. Here is Geri with her.

Brian wasn't going to pass this up either.

I figured I'd better pose with Geri :>

MEB and Donna celebrating. Notice the beverage in Donna's hands, and MEB's hands with no mittens - not sure how she does it.
Photo from Arm's collection

Here is part of the group just before leaving the summit. It took us 7 hours to reach the summit. We spent 30 minutes on it before heading down in 3 hours. Reaching the parking lot we found 12 - 15 inches of snow on our cars. Geri, Sherpa John and I stopped at our motel for a quick shower before heading to the Red Parka Pub where we had hoped to meet a group from the Isolation trip. I was so tired that for the first time in my life I couldn't finish a steak dinner.

Skimom/Arm - thanks for a great day. Congrats! I'm sure you will remember today always - I know we will.
Photo from Arm's collection

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